AI Agent vs Human Cost
Price only the hours an AI agent can actually take over, against the loaded cost of the person doing them today. With a break-even month and a plain note on what AI cannot do.
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- Salaries from BLS, May 2025
AI Agent vs Human Cost Calculator
Describe the role and the work
We price the automatable hours, not the whole job. AI helps with most roles; it rarely replaces one.
One role over 12 months.
BLS Software Developers, median: $135,980 a year.
A multi-step workflow with some custom integration and monitoring.
Only the hours spent on tasks an agent can actually do.
HorizonLux delivery range, not a quote.Estimate model usage
Assumptions you can change
BLS ECEC June 2026: 45.91% of wages.
What drives the result
The answer depends on three numbers. The first one matters most.
Hours an agent can really do
Count only tasks an agent can finish with little checking. Ten honest hours give a better answer than thirty hopeful ones.
What the agent costs to run
Models, hosting, monitoring and the time someone spends reviewing its work. A complex agent can cost more than the hours it takes over.
The loaded cost of the person
Salary plus benefits and payroll tax. A senior salary makes the same hours worth more, so the agent pays back sooner.
Questions
AI agent vs human questions
Is this saying AI replaces the job?
No. It prices only the hours you say an agent could do, against what the agent costs. The note in the results lists what still needs a person in that role.
Where do the salary numbers come from?
From BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for May 2025, by occupation and percentile, plus 45.9% benefits and payroll tax from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. You can enter your own salary instead.
Where do the agent costs come from?
They are HorizonLux delivery ranges by complexity, marked “est.”: a planning figure, not a quote. If you have a quote, enter it; to price model usage yourself, use the AI Agent Cost Estimator.
What is the setup cost for?
Building and connecting the agent: integrations, prompts and tools, testing and monitoring. It is paid once, and the break-even month is when the monthly saving has covered it.
Why does the person’s cost only count part of a salary?
Because the agent only takes over part of the work. Fifteen automatable hours of a 40-hour week is 37.5% of the loaded cost. The person still does the rest of the job.
Does the team plan change the break-even month?
No. Every seat is priced the same and the setup scales per seat, so the team plan changes the totals but not the month the setup is paid back.
Related tools
From estimate to a working agent
We build the agent and measure the hours it takes over
Bring the role you just priced. We will check which tasks an agent can handle and what it would cost to run.